Syracuse and the lands of the Persian Empire, in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE. Callirhoe, the beautiful daughter of a celebrated commander, and the young Chaereas are separated by a series of severe trials. Their lives become entangled with sea voyages, slavery, court intrigue, and the rivalry of powerful men. At its heart lies a story of love, loyalty, and the effort to preserve dignity far from home.

The Living Corpse is a play by Leo Tolstoy, written in 1900 and published posthumously. Although the plot reaches a logical conclusion, the work cannot be considered finished: the author stopped working on the play and left it in draft form. Tolstoy drew inspiration from the divorce proceedings involving the mother of N. N. Sukhanov and from the staged death arranged by Sukhanov’s father on Sofiyskaya Embankment, which was intended to allow him to separate from his wife legally and enable her to remarry.

“Gulliver’s Travels” is a satirical fantasy book by Jonathan Swift that vividly and wittily mocks human flaws and social vices. The book’s full title is “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships.” The book has become a classic of moral and political satire.

In late nineteenth-century Tiflis, the family of wealthy merchant Petros Tatulian is surrounded by relationships in which affection and friendship often give way to calculation. Sona becomes the focus of rivalry among several young men, while the idealistic Barsegh Torosian confronts hypocrisy, outward piety, and self-interest. The story examines how wealth shapes human bonds and alters people’s convictions.